and especially in the states, because of the welfare laws, women are forced to go find low-paying jobs far away from home, often single women, and not see their kids for most of the day. under those conditions, kids' brains don't develop the way they need to. and so, if it's all caused by genetics, we don't have to look at those social policies; we don't have to look at our politics that disadvantage certain minority groups, so cause them more stress, cause them more pain, in other words, more predisposition for addictions; we don't have to look at economic inequalities. if it's all genes, it's all we're all innocent, and society doesn't have to take a hard look at its own attitudes and policies. >> can you talk about this whole approach of criminalization versus harm reduction, how you think addicts should be treated, and how they are, in the united states and canada? >> well, the first point to get there is that if people who become severe addicts, as shown by all the studies, were for the most part abused children, then we realize that the war on drugs is actually waged against peop